Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Os Sete Maridos De Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

754 reviews

giulianalb99's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Este libro no fue para mi. Es entretenido pero sin más. Debido al bombazo que ha tenido y sigue teniendo me lo esperaba mejor pero alomejor es porque no me gusta leer romance🤷🏻‍♀️. De todas formas, para pasar el rato no está mal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual harassment, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Racism, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Death, Sexism, Biphobia, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Grief, and Sexual content

liv_jones's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Not gonna lie, when I started reading a book entitled “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, I was not expecting it to be as sapphic as it was! But that’s the point - just as Evelyn had to mislead the public in order to control the narrative she was putting out, the title draws the reader in with the idea that Evelyn is an insatiable sex symbol who easily tires of men, and only when one is engrossed in the story is it revealed that she was actually completely devoted to one woman. This book is almost the opposite of the unreliable narrator trope - Evelyn has been an unreliable narrator all her life, and it’s only now that she is being completely, brutally, honest, even if that truth hurts. 

The Old-Hollywood world that TJR has built seems so realistic, down to the explorations of racism, sexism, ageism, and homophobia rampant in the industry. Every character is fleshed out with their own motivations so that no one person is painted as the villain and even Evelyn’s abusers receive some (somewhat undeserved) sympathy from her. Evelyn herself is not supposed to be a good person - she’s messy and complex, with a consistent set of principles that characterise her actions throughout the novel. 

However, I did find that the twist ending fell a little flat. There was so much build up to it and just not enough payoff. Perhaps if there had been more of Monique’s narration (which seemed to become less frequent as the novel progressed) or some actual foreshadowing to how Monique’s and Evelyn’s lives intersected instead of just “you’re going to find out why I chose you soon and it’s going to be super shocking and you’re going to hate me”, I think the twist would have had a greater effect. Even if the twist had been revealed earlier in the novel, as soon as it became relevant, that would have given Monique and the reader more time to process it and potentially increase its effect. 

Overall, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Complex characters and a beautiful love story set perfectly within the context of Old Hollywood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Infidelity, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Domestic abuse, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Abortion, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

minimicropup's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Biphobia, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Terminal illness, Infidelity, Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy and Abortion

maiabradley's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Car accident, Terminal illness, Blood, Infidelity, Abortion, Addiction, Cancer, Grief, Homophobia, and Suicide

mackenzieduric's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was the first book I read to get myself back into reading. I’d been meaning to read it for the longest time because of the hype all over the internet from lesbians who love it. It sat in my room collecting dust but once I decided I wanted to get back into reading, it was the first of my neglected books I picked up. And I finished it in 24 hours. 

I loved it. I loved the way the book was formatted, jumping between Monique and Evelyn’s perspective. Going back and forth from Monique’s personal life to Evelyn and Monique speaking to just flashing back to the point in Evelyn’s life she was speaking about. 

I also really enjoyed how the book was cut into parts by each of the seven husbands, each husband representing a particular phase in Evelyn’s life. All those phases being so different and each marriage being for such different reasons. 

Every single character had purpose and none of the characters felt flat to me. Everyone had a reason for being. Each character is also very complex, all flawed in their own ways (some a lot more than others), which I appreciated. 

Spoiler

I did not expect the reason why Evelyn had specifically chosen Monique to be the author of her biography and I was genuinely surprised by the reveal and valued the true and tragic connection between them. 

 

Spoiler

I also adore the title being “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” when the main love story was Evelyn and Celia, the greatest love in Evelyn’s life was a woman. Her wife. I think this book is a beautiful historical fiction sapphic love story and I finally understand the hype around it. 

 

Spoiler

“I think once people know the truth, they will be much more interested in my wife.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Alcohol, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Abortion, Alcoholism, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Racism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Racism, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, and Addiction

l1iqc's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, Suicide, Biphobia, and Sexual content

particledamage's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

I feel like I am actively going insane.

Seeing good reviews for this books feels like I am on another planet.

This book is genuinely dreadful. It is both rushed and a slog. It is both biphobic and bisexual, racially inclusive and racist, about misogyny and sexist. It's preachy but only ever about like... basic decency things we all agree about. Finding out the author is straight and white clarified the book for me, truly felt like someone had just lovingly pried open my third eye so I could see the truth of the matter. 

I honestly don't even think I can neatly summarize all of my complaints here. I sent myself emails with incoherent notes to myself about every new thing that set me off--her "soulmate" being emotionally abusive in patterns identically to her physically abusive spouse. The weird bullying about coming out as if was a CW show handling its first gay plotline and not about two grown women in the 50s and 60s. The weird contrived bit where whenever someone needed to get exposed for something, everyone would suddenly become letter-writers so that the letters could be found. The plot twist that was so insanely stupid I dropped the book.

The way that not only did the book pause to go on diatribes to know that terms like "whore" are bad but also spent an entire chapter knowing every single historical event that has happened, Evelyn was on the right side of it. She's complicated and obsessed with herself and money and glory but don't worry, she was right about Vietnam and treats her hired help well.

God, her character was repugnant but mostly in a dull way. Every character in this story was uninteresting, heinous, or both. Even Harry gets ruined in the end and he was the single enjoyable character the entire way through.

Just... what an awful experience. I'm speechless. 

Read it just in a day though, so at least there's that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Death, Cursing, Biphobia, Abortion, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Car accident, Cancer, Outing, Physical abuse, Incest, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Classism, Toxic relationship, Racism, Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Eating disorder, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

marlee_grace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Loved this book. Literally read the last quarter in one sitting. Emotional, Romance and heartbreak intertwined with the devistation and sacrifice that comes with living life in the public eye. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Car accident

elskabee's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Would have been 4.5 but that stupid twist brought it down.

As someone who has gone down the rabbit hole of LGBT people in old Hollywood, this book definitely scratched an itch. TJR is an excellent writer who creates fictional stories that feel like they could be real and I was very immersed throughout. 

Except for the interview aspect. If this was /just/ the fake memoir without the journalist, the twist, all the extra drama, then I think it would have been more cohesive and more enjoyable. I enjoyed this enough to be able to recommend it to others, but I can't say it's a personal new favourite. 

Also warning: emotional! nearly cried walking down the street when listening to the audiobook on my daily walk 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Biphobia

surelyorange's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

“If you are intolerable, let me be the one to tolerate you.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, and Car accident

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Vomit